Solsbury Hill performance
Gabriel performs Solsbury Hill during The Late Show with David Letterman to promote his self titled album.
Supper’s Ready performance
The band performs Supper’s Ready from their album Foxtrot at Shepperton Studios. The filming covers two days (30- 31 October). Gabriel’s intro to the song:
Old Michael, walked past the pet shop – which was never open – into the park – which was never closed. And in the park was a very smooth, clean green grass. So Michael, took off all his clothes, and began rubbing his flesh into the wet, clean green grass. He accompanies himself with a little tune… It went like this… Beneath the ground, the dirty brown writhing things, called worms, interpreted the pitter patter from above as rainfall. Rainfall in worm-world means two things: Mating and Bathtime. Both of these experiences were found thoroughly enjoyable to the worm colony… simultaneously. And within seconds, the entire surface of the park was a mass of dirty, brown, soggy, writhing forms. He was still pleased – Old Michael, and he began whistling a tune this time, to accompany himself. It went like this:…Jerusalem Boogie to us perhaps, but to the birds it meant THE SUPPER IS READY!
Bataclan concert
The band are filmed before and during their performance at the Bataclan theater in Paris. The film shows excerpts of The Return of The Giant Hogweed, The Knife, Supper’s Ready. On The Musical Box Gabriel wears a fox head and red dress (in later tours he will use an old-man mask).
Int: When did you start to develop the theatrical side of your music?
PG: I think it came naturally… I had started to do a bit of mime and it increased with the music…and this last year it became more exaggerated than it was before…
Int: Who do you think you imitate the best ?
PG: Alice Cooper, I spent six months in the US to imitate him… and I watched 17 films of him on stage, just to copy his movements almost exactly… and David Bowie, I’ve been living with him for the last three years, which allowed me to understand a lot of his technique…
Int: But you’re the only one (in the band) to be theatrical…
PG: Of course, they’re all busy with their instruments…
TB: He’s singing, but there are a lot of moments where he doesn’t and so he must do something to get paid as much as the others…
Int: And you’ve never been tempted to act like him ? … it seems to me that Peter is the pop star, as if the others only play as a support band…
PG: No, Tony is having tap dancing lessons and next time we play in France he will do five minutes of tap dancing… and Steve does some numbers by Maurice Chevalier…
MR: The point to remember is that the theatrical side always enhances the music rather than the music…
